Enforceable Rights for Victims of Crime

• In Event: Victims' Rights and Remedies

Abstract

This paper will evaluate the movement toward providing victims with enforceable rights in criminal and administrative law. This project will assess the current range of enforceable rights for victims of crime across a range of common law countries and assesses current and proposed new rights by considering how they impact on the work done by various justice officials – judges, prosecutors and defense counsel - in the context of adversarial process and exchange. International jurisdictions with rights frameworks already established – the United States, England and Wales, Ireland, Japan and Australia – will be considered to identify advantages and disadvantages of enforceable rights across jurisdictions with comparative adversarial processes. The movement toward providing victims with private counsel, creating statutory offices for the protection and enforcement of victim rights, the rise of independent Commissioners of Victim Rights, and the possible role of NGO’s and support groups, will be considered in the context of their compatibility with adversarial common law processes.

Author

• Tyrone Kirchengast, University of New South Wales, Australia